Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke (113 page)

102
Barbara, meanwhile, had had her baby: Linda Marie Campbell was born April 25, 1953.

102
he even married her: Barbara and Clarence married on October 5, just two weeks before Sam and Dolores Mohawk.

103
the substitution of Hawaiian steel guitar: The unnamed steel guitarist appears to have been someone unknown to Art Rupe, and perhaps even to the Soul Stirrers—at least that would be one reason why the combination was so unsuccessful. Possibly, Rupe came up with the idea in the hope of recapturing some of the fire, and some of the popularity, of the group’s partnership with Willie Eason, the father of “sacred steel” guitar, on two 1947 Aladdin titles. In any case, it didn’t work, and while the steel player was given a vocal audition of his own, nothing more seems to have been heard from him at Specialty, and it would be another two years before the Soul Stirrers had a guitarist of their own, when Bob King joined the group.

104
“a basketball team [who] when they throw a note”: “Salient points from ANR’s [Arthur N. Rupe’s] Talk, from tape,” n.d., Specialty archives.

104
“‘Shake a Hand,’ a common greeting among followers of spiritual and gospel music”: Joel Friedman, “Hallelujah! Religious Field Growing Bonanza,”
Billboard,
February 6, 1954.

104
a year-end gross of $100,000: Ibid.

106
“Sam was a man about town”: Wolff,
You Send Me,
p. 107.

107
“I was the first”: Tony Heilbut,
The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times,
p. 122.

107
“we wound up with fifty cents”: Ibid., p. 125.

107
The other Gales took a somewhat less charitable view: Their view, and my perspective on the group, come primarily from interviews with JoJo Wallace and Howard Carroll, as well as from Heilbut,
The Gospel Sound,
and Glenn Hinson,
Fire in My Bones: Transcendence and the Holy Spirit in African American Gospel.

107
“I was the one”: Heilbut,
The Gospel Sound,
p. 125.

108
Oakland gospel stalwart Faidest Wagoner: Wagoner’s story comes from Lee Hildebrand’s ca. 1992 interview, from which all quotes are taken. Also Doris Worsham, “Fete Planned for Musician,”
Oakland Tribune,
November 25, 1978; Opal Louis Nations, “My Soul Concerto: The Story of the Apollas”; and biographical material supplied by Faidest Wagoner through Opal.

111
J.W. Alexander put Herman Hill and Associates . . . on retainer: Letter of authorization for payment to Herman Hill by Herald Attractions, March 17, 1954 (Specialty archives).

111
“a white piano installed in the trunk”:
Jet,
July 1, 1954.

112
Mahalia Jackson was continuing to develop: See
Jet,
July 22, August 26, and September 30, 1954, among others.

112
a twenty-seven-year-old New Orleans-based bluesman named Eddie Jones: Information on Eddie Jones (Guitar Slim) and Johnny Vincent comes primarily from John Broven,
Walking to New Orleans: The Story of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues,
pp. 50ff., and Jeff Hannusch,
I Hear You Knockin’: The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues,
pp. 177ff.

112
auditioned for him by the devil in a dream: Hannusch,
I Hear You Knockin’,
p. 182.

113
whose “predominantly [white] femme audience . . . went beserk”:
Cash Box
(n.d.), as quoted in “In Memoriam,”
Shout
47, September 6, 1969. By far the best account of Hamilton’s career is Peter Grendysa, “Never Walking Alone,” published in both
Goldmine,
April 1979, and
Soul Survivor
5, summer 1986.

113
“try to write words in the blues field”: Art Rupe to Wynona Carr, April 14, 1955. Carr had written to Rupe as early as January 27 on the subject.

115
“Please release ‘Nearer My God to Thee’”: S.R. Crain to Art Rupe, undated but answered with a check dated February 22, 1955.

115
a follow-up letter a week later: This letter was dated February 28.

116
the controversy that J.W. deliberately ignited: The
Los Angeles Sentinel
reported on the controversy on October 6, 1955; the session was August 4.

118
“Well, let him get his head bumped”: Wolff,
You Send Me,
p. 105.

119
Johnnie had been raised by an aunt: Background on Johnnie Taylor’s early life, and his joining the QCs, comes primarily from my interviews with Creadell Copeland and L.C. Cooke; Barbara Cooke’s interview with Lee Richard; John Broven and Cilla Huggins’ 1989 interview with Johnnie Taylor; Lee Hildebrand liner notes to the three-CD career survey
Johnnie Taylor: Lifetime
(Stax 4432); and Pierre Daguerre, “L’Interview de Johnnie Taylor,”
Soul Bag
118.

120
That was the summer that . . . Bob King joined the group: Background information on Bob King is primarily from interviews with Howard Carroll, JoJo Wallace, and Edith King. Jerry Zolten originally put me onto the connection between Carroll and King, whose picture together appears in Zolten’s book
Great God A’Mighty!: The Dixie Hummingbirds
under King’s given name of Rudolf. Jerry also provided me with an introduction to Howard Carroll.

121
Dorothy Love and the Original Gospel Harmonettes: Although Dorothy Love became best known as Dorothy Love Coates (and all of her earlier, as well as her later, work has now been reissued under that name), she did not marry Sensational Nightingales bass singer Carl Coates until 1959.

121
Art recorded the program at the Shrine Auditorium: Rupe had been recording live gospel programs at Brother Joe May’s urging for over three years at this point. He downplayed the significance of it in interviews. “It was very primitive,” he told the BBC, “and I never really intended to put it out; I just wanted to double-check for myself audience response.” Clearly, though, the aim was to capture some of the power and the glory that he heard in the music. That, certainly, is what one hears, all these years later, on the tracks that have finally been released, but I’m not aware that any of it came out at the time.

121
Bumps . . . was an indifferent musician but a tireless hustler: Bumps’ Seattle background is detailed in Paul de Barros,
Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle,
where the Floyd Standifer quotes appear.

121
a working knowledge of Yiddish and an advanced degree in music: Bumps spoke of his “conservatory training” in various interviews, and it is cited in the
Melody Maker
article below.

121
“the sun was shining, everything was happening”: Michael Watts, “Bumps Blackwell,” part 1,
Melody Maker,
August 26, 1972. There is extensive background on Blackwell here, also in Michael Ochs and Ed Pearl’s 1981 interviews with Blackwell, and an anonymous taped interview in the Specialty archives.

121
a singer named Sonny Knight: Information on Sonny Knight comes primarily from Bill Millar’s 1981 interview. All quoted material is from that interview. His story appears in Millar,
Let the Good Times Rock! A Fan’s Notes on Post-War American Roots Music.

122
he had not up to this time recorded “spiritual” music: Bumps’ assignment appears to have been designed as some kind of test—although it should be noted that previous live gospel recordings had been done by Ted Brinson, a bass-playing fixture on the L.A. r&b scene, who had his own home studio in his garage.

123
“We were making up songs to make folk shout”: JoJo Wallace in Hinson,
Fire in My Bones,
p. 242.

123
“People were screaming, throwing purses”: Wolff,
You Send Me,
p. 121.

123
“they didn’t need us women”: BBC interview with Dorothy Love Coates.

125
“Nearer to Thee,” Crain said, was the group’s “stick”: Dred Scott Keyes interview with S.R. Crain. Subsequent quotes are from that interview.

127
“It was awesome, phenomenal”: Wolff,
You Send Me,
p. 121.

128-129
a singer who . . . had sent Art a tape: The tape box arrived on February 17, 1955, according to Rick Coleman and Rob Finnis’ notes to the three-CD Little Richard box set,
Little Richard: The Specialty Sessions
(Specialty 8508), p. 20. Additional sources are the Art Rupe interview in the Specialty archives; Barrett Hansen, “The Specialty Story,”
Hit Parader,
June 1969; Michael Ochs and Ed Pearl’s interview with Bumps Blackwell, 1981; “Gospel Singers in Coffee Houses,”
Sepia,
March 1960; Charles White,
The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Quasar of Rock;
and my interview with Lloyd Price.

129
“Mr. Art Rupe,” the singer announced: The announcement, and the songs, are included as the first two tracks of the three-CD set above. The difference between this audition tape and “Tutti Frutti,” Little Richard’s first Specialty single, provides an eye-opening picture of the revolution that Bumps, Art Rupe, and the New Orleans rhythm section wrought.

129
“that, coupled with a gospel sound and a little more energy, was the basis for [my] being interested”: Rick Coleman, notes to Little Richard box set, p. 21. As Rupe says in this interview, he and Bumps listened to the audition tape together and then compared notes.

129
a judicious loan to the artist of $600: Buyout agreement, May 13, 1955, and correspondence with Little Richard’s manager, Cliff Brantley, September 13 (Specialty archives).

129
“I had to literally make blueprints”: Rick Coleman, notes to Little Richard box set, p. 22.

129
Bumps mailed back the session sheets: Letter from Bumps Blackwell to Art Rupe, September 17, 1955.

“LOVABLE”

130
he and Sam would wait in the reception area: Interviews with Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun.

132
“A lot of things was going on”: Dred Scott Keyes interview with S.R. Crain, 1996.

137
doing some work for Don Robey: For purposes of dating, “Next Time You See Me” was recorded in Houston on May 7, 1956.

139
the White Citizens Council attack on Nat “King” Cole: This took place on April 10, 1956, and is documented in Daniel Mark Epstein,
Nat King Cole,
pp. 255ff.

139
“He was born there”: “Backstage with Clyde Reid,”
Amsterdam News,
April 21, 1956.

139
J.W. Alexander was reported . . . to have “electrified audiences everywhere”:
Los Angeles Sentinel,
March 29, 1956.

141
he had to share his income equally: In a letter to S.R. Crain, February 16, 1956, Art Rupe stipulates that by prior arrangement all Soul Stirrers songwriting royalties are going to Crain, and that it is up to Crain to give Sam his.

143
Dorothy Love . . . took to calling him “Mr. Wonderful”: BBC interview with Dorothy Love Coates.

143
the kind of pansexual hysteria: Sam Moore and Dave Marsh,
Sam and Dave: An Oral History,
pp. 26-27.

143
“This man was so smooth, so good”: Daniel Wolff, with S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum,
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke,
p. 90.

144
“RETURNED BY POPULAR DEMAND”: Advertisement,
Atlanta Daily World,
July 13, 1956. Additional ads and squibs for the program appeared on July 15 and 18.

146
“all them tricks that Harris was making”: Ray Funk interview with Paul Foster, 1981.

146
an event “celebrating Herman Nash’s six years of Gospel Promoting”:
Atlanta Daily World,
August 19, 1956.

147
The presentation of a full gospel program had been introduced: Background on gospel at the Apollo and Thermon Ruth (including quotations) from Ted Fox,
Showtime at the Apollo: The Story of Harlem’s World Famous Theater,
pp. 227-228, and Todd R. Baptista,
Group Harmony: Echoes of the Rhythm and Blues Era,
pp. 96-116, primarily.

148
he was offered no more than $1,000: Alex Bradford and his six Bradford Singers received $850.11 for the original December 1955 show, the Harmonizing Four $550, according to Apollo Theater records, Schiffman Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

148
“we will go into the Apollo, but when we do, we gonna get paid”: The source for Crain’s claim is, as indicated, Leroy Crume. There is no written record of what the Soul Stirrers got paid in August, but when they returned in December, they received $3,500, according to Apollo Theater records.